Oral arguments in the state’s latest education funding battle are coming next month. The state of Kansas and the group challenging lawmaker efforts to properly fund K-12 education are still at odds over how best to fund public schools.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the $90 million inflation adjustment passed by lawmakers and approved by Governor Laura Kelly earlier this session should be enough to find favor with the Kansas Supreme Court after the high court told the Legislature to add more money for adequacy and equity. Lawmakers eventually decided on a plan to add more than $500 million through the 2022-23 academic year as a way to reset funding as approved in a settlement from 2006, but the court said that plan did not account for inflation past 2016 and suggested a 1.44 percent increase.
Schools for Fair Funding originally approved the inflation adjustment but now says it doesn’t go far enough to satisfy the Supreme Court. In fact, Schools for Fair Funding says another $270 million is needed.
Responses to initial filings are due April 25, with oral arguments set for May 9. The current schedule has the Supreme Court ruling by June 30, the end of the state’s academic and fiscal years.
